2 ms·
Being an EU member means free movement of capital, goods, and people. Trade deals cover "capital" and "goods", but usually not "people". So concretely speaking
by mrb 10y ago
Being an EU member means free movement of capital, goods, and people.
Trade deals cover "capital" and "goods", but usually not "people". So concretely speaking, labor costs will rise in the UK (due to a reduction of cheap workers immigrating from other EU countries to the UK) and the country will start experiencing a deficit of highly skilled workers¹ (due to educated workers not able to immigrate).
¹ Of all places, the HN community should be familiar with this issue, because it is often discussed in the context of the US ("startup visa", etc).
- darawk 10y agoBut they can simply reestablish deals regarding people as well. Plenty of countries have deals regarding movement of people. And Switzerland even has a deal with the EU that allows the exact same movement of people as if they were a member.
- Tomte 10y agoYes, they can. Usually you're lucky if it only takes years to negotiate and finalize them. Decades are not unheard of.